The present invention relates to a compact disc player, and more particularly, to a method of reproducing a reserved program in which searching time, associated with reproducing a reserved program, is reduced, and to a compact disc player adopting the method.
In a lead-in area of a compact disc, a table of contents (TOC) is recorded. The TOC contains information relating to, for example, the number of recorded programs, the recording location (leading address) of each program, play time per program, etc. When the disc is loaded in a compact disc player, the TOC information written in the lead-in area is read and stored in a TOC memory for reference when a program is reproduced. Using the TOC, a compact disc player can search for the recorded programs that are to be selectively reproduced from the disc.
A program reservation function is an example of using such a method. The program reservation function sequentially reproduces programs reserved in advance according to a specified sequence input by a user. Hence, the program reservation function enables the user to listen many different songs in succession, not necessarily in the order recorded on the discs.
However, since the player has only a single pickup device for reading signals written on a disc, the pickup must sequentially read the reserved programs, one by one. Also, since the programs are written on a disc in an arbitrary sequence dictated by the disc's manufacturer, the pickup requires some time to move to the starting point of the next program, after a program is reproduced. This time interval is an annoyance and inconvenience to the user.
The above problem is amplified in the case of a compact disc player which employs a disc changer. A disc changer can arbitrarily reproduce programs recorded on one disc among a plurality of loaded discs, to overcome the limitation of only reproducing the number of programs recorded on a single disc. There are two types of such a disc changers, one employing a jukebox and another employing a rotary disc base.
In the type of disc changer employing the rotary disc base, a disc, selected at the user's discretion, is obtained by spinning the rotary disc base which is equipped with multiple trays for loading discs along the circumference of the disc base. The compact disc player employing a disc changer does not need to change discs frequently, but when the two programs which are to be sequentially reproduced are recorded on different discs, the program searching time is much longer than that for programs contained on a single disc.
Accordingly, when a plurality of programs are being sequentially reproduced according to the reservation program function, after the preceding program is reproduced, there is a prolonged waiting period until the next program is reproduced.